Author : Pen Hadow (wiki link)
Book : Solo : The North Pole Alone and Unsupported.
Autobiographical in nature this follows Pen as he attempts to be the first person to do exactly what it says in the title.
Pens definition of unsupported is very pure simple and demanding.
This more than anything defines the man in my mind.
I took this book on a hiking holiday on Dartmoor as Pen has connections in the area it seemed fitting.
I like to read of polar exploration and will never tire of boys own type adventure and ripping yarns. Combine it with an understated British reserve (thankfully British reserve is not confined to the British, unfortunately too few Brits have it) and you have a book I am going to want to read.
A few years before this I had seen the Discovery show regarding this venture.
His tale was very appealing trudging towards the North Pole solo with an entire cast of extras (Mavis the brush is the star turn).
While it is unfashionable to have "heroes" I do. Pen has not reached hero status for me but he is an inspirational figure, which is about as close as the living can hope to get to "hero" status in my book.
Dartmoor was enjoying something of a heatwave when I visited. Everything is relative, it was dartmoor during an early bit of British summer, someone from Australia might not consider it a heatwave but having just gone through another tedious damp grey dull British winter and spring this is about as good as it gets.
Packweight and distance travelled added to the toil so it was always a treat to dive into a book about the arctic wastes and what amounts to superhuman efforts of a man striving to fulfill a promise he made to his dying father.
So what if I had a blister developing, my feet were not going to go black and drop off. That rather boggy area might mean I get my feet a bit wet but it did not involve donning an experimental immersion suit ("Mr Orange") and rely on it not leaking or attracting attention by a predator and end up eaten.
In a soundbite world of clever camera angles and overblown emotion and reaction there is something rather appealing about one man putting one foot in front of the other till the culmination of years of graft was realised.
Anyone that likes polar exploration or boys own ripping yarns will enjoy this book.
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